Three 12-year-olds help arrest intruder in home

Three quick-thinking 12-year-old boys helped apprehend a man who broke into a southwest Wichita home Monday afternoon.

Wichita police Lt. Doug Nolte said emergency dispatchers received a 911 call at about 4:45 p.m. Monday from the boy who lived at the house in the 10000 block of West Dora, just south of Kellogg off Maize Road. The boy, who was with two neighbor friends, said they'd heard a commotion downstairs in the house and knew his parents weren't home.

"Obviously, they were well prepared," Nolte said.

The boy then called his parents, who alerted a neighbor to check the house. Nolte said the neighbor found a car in the garage that didn't belong to the owner.

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Wichita police officers summoned the Sedgwick County Sheriff's K-9 unit, which had a dog sniff out the house. The dog found an intruder hiding in a closet, Nolte said. The dog bit the man but the injury was minor, according to police reports.

Nolte said the burglars entered the house through a garage window, opened the garage door and pulled their car inside to try to avoid detection.

Police arrested a 24-year-old man, who indicated that he had an accomplice, Nolte said.

The man arrested is currently on intensive probation following a criminal-threat conviction in Sedgwick County in May, records show. The man also has convictions in Barton County for drug possession and contributing to a child's misconduct, for crimes committed in 2006, records show.

Nolte said any residents in the area who may have seen strangers around the house are encouraged to call 911, or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

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